Godfred Yeboah Dame
The Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice has concluded its review of a docket submitted by the police on the allegations contained in a 36-page document written and signed by Professor Frimpong Boateng.
The report which included the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), accused some government officials and private individuals of either engaging in illegal mining (Galamsey) or inhibiting the work of the committee in its fight against illegal mining.
The docket which was forwarded to the Attorney General’s (AG) office contained allegations made against the individuals and sought directions from the AG on the way forward.
Persons cited in the report as being involved in illegal mining activities were Laud Commey, Charles Nii Teiko Tagoe, Frank Asiedu Bekoe a.k.a. Protozoa, Joseph Albert Quarm, Charles Owusu, the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Captain (Rtd.) Edmund Kojo Koda, Donald Entsuah and an unnamed former Member of Parliament for Wassa East Constituency.
Three individuals – Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi were alleged to be involved in the sale of excavators, whilst Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and Kwaku Baako Jnr are said to have done acts which directly or indirectly inhibited the Professor in his fight against illegal mining.
The Attorney General’s advice dated September 12, 2023, advised the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to drop the allegations against most of the persons named in the report, as there were no evidence to support the allegations against them.
The advice, however, called for conclusion of investigations into the allegations made against Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi, and a report submitted to the AG’s Office.
The AG’s advice, delivered to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service on September 14, 2023, was signed by a Chief State Attorney, Mrs. Evelyn Keelson, of the Prosecutions Division of the Office of the Attorney General.
Antecedent
On March 2, 2023, Professor Frimpong Boateng, a former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and a former Chairman of IMCIM alleged on GTV’s ‘Legends of Our Time’ show that some government officials and private citizens were involved in illegal mining activities.
When the attention of the police was drawn to the said allegations, they wrote to Professor Frimpong Boateng on March 20, 2023, and requested his assistance in connection with investigations into the alleged involvement of government officials in galamsey.
On March 21, 2023, the police visited Prof. Frimpong Boateng at his residence for further information. At this meeting, the Professor did not name any government official involved in illegal mining activities, but submitted a number of documents to the police, including the 36-page report he had presented to the Chief of Staff.
AG’s Report
The AG’s advice to the CID, sets out the various allegations made by Prof. Frimpong Boateng against each person named in the report, and indicated that the police interviewed and took statements from the persons cited in the allegations contained in the report.
It said they all denied the allegations made against them, however, “several attempts by the Police to obtain further information from Professor Frimpong Boateng to substantiate the allegations in the Report and to assist them to conduct further investigations proved futile. The Professor refused to provide any further information to the Police. He also declined to give a written statement, claiming his Report is ‘an embodiment of his statement’ and all the information he has on the allegations,” the Chief State Attorney, Mrs. Keelson stated.
The Attorney General’s advice also stated that investigations by the police have not revealed any evidence in support of the allegations, adding that “the allegations are therefore bare and do not provide a basis for any criminal charge against the persons cited in the Report.”
The advice also indicated that with the exception of the statement of Seth Mantey and some statements of account from NIB which provide some relevant information in respect of allegations against Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi, none of the documents presented by Prof. Frimpong Boateng provided any relevant information in support of the allegations contained in his report.
It said two pendrives procured by the police – one from Prof. Frimpong Boateng and another from GTV also did not provide any relevant evidence on the allegations made against the persons named in the report.
The AG’s advice, however, observed that although the police diary of action shows that John Ofori Atta was invited by the police, there is no indication that he was interviewed or that a statement was taken from him, neither was there a statement from Ekow Ewusi on the docket.
The AG, therefore, instructed the police to wind up investigations on that issue and furnish him with a report on same.
“In the absence of any evidence on the docket in support of any of the allegations of illegal mining activities, we are unable to recommend the prosecution of any of the persons cited in the Report. They should therefore be discharged. We however await the outcome of the investigations conducted in the case involving Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi,” the AG’s advice concluded.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak